


Watching the Stars Die at the End of the Universe

by odyssxus



Series: Old Guard Kinkmeme Prompts [3]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Death ships Nicky and Joe as much as we all do, Happy Ending, Implied Sexual Content, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani and Nicky | Nicolò di Genova are in Love, M/M, Nicky and Joe never loose their immortality, Philosophy, Short One Shot, i think at least, kinkmeme prompt, the end of the universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:13:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27000271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/odyssxus/pseuds/odyssxus
Summary: Everyone else was long gone.They’d once thought of Andy as unfathomably old. But compared to them she would be little more than an infant, her life a mere blip on the radar.Another star winked out. There weren’t many left now.~~~Nicky and Joe never lose their immortality, and meet an interesting figure at the end of all things.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: Old Guard Kinkmeme Prompts [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1943380
Comments: 102
Kudos: 421





	Watching the Stars Die at the End of the Universe

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this kinkmeme prompt: 
> 
> https://theoldguardkinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/4108.html?thread=1308684#cmt1308684
> 
> I wrote this listening to "This is the End" by Phoebe Bridgers on repeat, if you want to have the same vibe as me haha. It suits the fic, imo.

Everyone else was long gone. 

They’d lived through more than they thought was possible, more than they could have begun to imagine. They had seen countless empires rise and fall, the end of earth, humanity reaching for the stars, intergalactic battles, peace treaties, and more. They’d seen stars go supernova, born witness to event horizons, and to the formation of planets and galaxies. 

And now they were witnessing the end of all things. 

The universe and everything in it was coming to an end. 

They were truly old now, though still looked the same as they had countless years ago before the gates of Jerusalem, killing each other for the first time. They had forgotten much, but they’d never forgotten that. They had never forgotten their family. Andy and Lykon, dead for billions of years. Booker, Nile, and Quynh for the same. They had once thought of Andy as unfathomably old. But compared to them she would be little more than an infant, her life a mere blip on the radar of their existence. 

“He was right,” Nicolò said, staring out into the unfathomable darkness. “This is how the world ends. Not with a bang...” 

Yusuf tightened his arm around Nicolò’s shoulders. “But with a whimper,” he finished. He looked at Nicolò instead of the darkness beyond their ship. It was, in a way, beautiful, but also lonely. They were the last ones left. They had helped as long as they could, made a difference where they could, but eventually everything had to die. 

Another star winked out. There weren’t many left now. 

“What do you think will happen?” Nicolò asked. He turned, bringing his arms up to encircle Yusuf’s neck. Yusuf, in turn, wrapped his arms around Nicolò’s waist. Their foreheads pressed together, eyes meeting and breath mingling. 

“I don’t know,” Yusuf said. They’d had this discussion before, once they realised that immortality wasn’t going to end, not for them. They barely remembered earth anymore. Or the second planet they lived on. Or the third. It had been too long. They had kept, painstakingly, their favourite books, favourite pieces of art. They had them with them even now, in their old ship. It would run out of fuel soon enough - a solar ship could not make energy with no stars after all. They had maybe another hundred and fifty years of stored power. 

“I don’t care,” Yusuf continued. “As long as I am with you, my Nicolò, at the end of all things.”

Nicolò smiled slightly, and leaned in to kiss his lips. They had been together for twenty two billions years. They had never once strayed or considered being with someone else. They were one soul in two bodies, meant to be. 

“It would be nice to see them again,” Nicolò sighed. 

Yusuf laughed slightly. Two more stars winked out. “We can tease Andy about being a baby now,” he said. When they’d reached ten thousand years old they’d started joking about it, and even after all this time they still found it amusing. They had each other, yes, but the memories of their family helped keep them going as well. 

Nicolò looked back into the blackness beyond their ship. They had set up a bubble of sorts, a way to keep themselves safe for as long as possible. They had enough light harnessed to last them maybe another hundred years - enough food and water for the same. But one hundred years was nothing to them, not anymore. Their ship would plug on for perhaps fifty years past that. Then it would die. 

“They’re almost all gone now,” he observed. 

Yusuf turned to look as well. He could maybe a dozen stars left. Some asteroids floated aimlessly by, remains of long destroyed solar systems, but nothing more. “I have you,” he whispered. “You are the only star I will ever need.” 

They turned as one to go further into their ship, moving to prepare tea. Tea had been a constant for billions of years, and they had been sure to stock up. They had many kinds, but Yusuf was craving something that reminded him of home. Of him and Nicolò when they were still young. He picked mint leaves from their little herb garden, adding them to the fragrant black tea. 

He served Nicolò first, as he always did, and sat across from him. Nicolò immediately tangled their legs together, needing that point of contact. 

“Is there enough tea for a guest?” 

They looked up as one, startled. That in itself was rare. They were so rarely surprised by anything anymore. A figure stood by the door, just inside the shield that protected them from the vast nothingness of space. Their voice was neither male nor female, their form was tall, and they were wearing long pale robes and a worn grey cloak, hood up to cover their face. 

They exchanged a brief look, eyes meeting, before turning as one to the stranger. “Of course,” Yusuf said. He stood to prepare another cup, while Nicolò pulled over a stool. They did not have three chairs anymore - they had no need - but neither of them would be rude. 

The stranger sat, by the entrance in one moment and on the stool in the next. “Thank you,” they said. Their voice was ever so slightly amused. They accepted the tea from Yusuf, hand hidden inside their cloak. 

“How…” 

Yusuf sat again, re-tangling his feet with Nicolò’s, and spoke instead. He could tell his husband was feeling a bit perplexed by the turn of events, and even after all these years wanted nothing more than to protect him. “How are you here?” he asked, brow furrowed. No ship had docked, they’d had no proximity alarms, and they hadn't seen anything but dying stars for ages. 

The figure shrugged and put down their tea. Despite not visibly drinking anything, more than half the drink was gone. “I have my ways,” they said dryly. 

There was another beat of silence, though it was not awkward. For some reason both Yusuf and Nicolò felt as if they knew this stranger, and though they had met them before, often. 

“I’m sorry,” Yusuf finally said, feeling the need to break the silence. “But do we know you?” 

The stranger laughed. “You do,” they said, amused. “You know me well, and I know you even better. I have been watching you since your first deaths, billions and billions of years ago. Just as I watched Andromache, Quynh, Lykon, and Nile. You two have always been my favourites though.” They added, almost like an afterthought. 

Nicolò leaned forwards, elbows on the table, and looked at the stranger intently. Even after all these years their remarkable colour could surprise Yusuf. Sometimes blue, sometimes grey, and oftentimes green. “I would remember meeting someone like you,” he said, slipping into Ligurian, a tongue they had never forgotten. 

The stranger replied in the same language, accent flawless. “You have never seen me,” they said cryptically. “But I have seen you countless times. Everytime you have died you have felt me, and everytime you have died I have been unable to keep you with me, unable to convince myself to take you from the world of the living.” They sighed mournfully, ignoring Yusuf and Nicolò’s bemused expressions. They pulled back their hood, giving them a terrifying yet beautiful smile. “Have you not guessed who I am yet?” They asked, switching to the Arabic of Yusuf’s youth. 

They stared at the face, achingly wonderful yet impossibly inhuman, before exchanging a look, speaking without words as they did more often than not. After so many years together they hardly needed to speak. Nicolò answered the stranger first. “You are Death,” he said, a slight question in his voice. 

Death spread their hands. “I am,” they said easily. “Or whatever else you want to call me. I won’t be offended. I have answered to many names over the years. Ala, Mot, Anubis, Thanatos, Hel, Arawn, Kalma, Mictlāntēcutli, Pana… and countless more names from countless other civilizations. The Grim Reaper if you like.” They tilted their head to the side, giving them a beatific smile. “Regardless of what you call me, I am still the same. I deliver the souls of the dead from this world to the next.” 

Nicolò took a shuddering breath, reaching for his husband’s hand. Yusuf reached back in the same moment, tangling their fingers together. “Is…” he swallowed, tears suddenly in his eyes. “Is it our time?” 

Death smiled gently. “It can be,” they answered softly. “You are the last beings alive in the universe. You have enough resources to last you another century or so, but that is it. I can wait as long as you like, but…” they trailed off, looking towards the massive window to space. There were only a few stars visible now. Everything else was endless darkness. “But there is not much for you here.” 

“We have each other,” Yusuf protested, voice somehow calm and steady. 

Death inclined their head. “You do,” they agreed. “But you will still have each other in the next world, as well as the rest of your family. Death is but the next adventure.” 

They met eyes once more, studying each other’s faces intently once more, an entire conversation taking place in minute changes to their expressions. A tilt of the head, slight frown or smile. 

They turned as one back to Death. “Why have you not taken us yet?” Yusuf asked, genuinely perplexed. “We have each died too many times to count, in ways we could have never imagined.”

Nicolò spoke next. “You took the others like us long ago, and while we mourned them we recognised it was their time. Why not us?” 

Death actually laughed, a sound that warmed them to the core. It was like a comforting blanket, or sitting at a campfire under the open sky. “Even I could not destroy the truest love in the universe,” they answered easily. “Watching the two of you has been a gift. Even in the darkest moments, when entire planets were at war, when cataclysmic disasters were destroying entire solar systems, when plague ravaged cities and tyrants killed countless innocents, I could look to the two of you and have hope.” They paused, sipping their tea again. “If you ever seemed tried, done with living, I would have taken you both, given you the peace you so deserve. But through all the pain and suffering you have remained kind, remained joyful, and remained so in love. It has been my _privilege_ to watch you.” 

Nicolò swallowed. “Why are you revealing yourself now?” he asked, curiosity in his voice. Yusuf’s hand tightened on his. They both suspected the reason. 

Death’s expression softened into something unfathomably kind. “I am here to give you a choice,” they explained slowly. “I can wait for you, wait until your ship runs out of fuel, until your food is gone, and you die naturally. I promise that you will go together. Or,” he paused, reaching his hands across the table. Nicolò and Yusuf exchanged a quick glance, before taking Death’s hands in theirs. The hands were warm, and hummed with a quiet power. “Or,” Death continued. “I can take you tonight. It is still early in the day; you can have time to put your things in order, cook for each other one last time, make love, and fall asleep in each other's arms. When you next wake you will be with me, and I shall take you to paradise.” 

Death stood then, squeezing their hands tightly. “You do not need to answer me now,” they said. “I will know. But you deserved the choice.” They leaned over, kissing Nicolò and the Yusuf on the forehead as though they were dear children, not men billions of years old. They smiled one last time, before vanishing into nothingness. 

Nicolò let out a brief cry, covering his mouth with his hand. They had both wondered, when it had become clear they would never lose their immortality, what would happen when there was nothing left. When they were the last ones. 

Yusuf was immediately on his knees by his chair, Nicolò’s face cradled in his hands. “My love,” he said, voice thick. They both knew what they were going to do, but the words needed to be said out loud. “Tonight?” 

Nicolò nodded, leaning down to run his hands through his husband’s curls, kissing him on the mouth. “Tonight,” he agreed, voice nearly inaudible. They were ready. 

There wasn’t much left to do. They mourned, briefly, for their plants and books and artwork, but not for long. Now or one hundred years from now it would all be gone. They made more tea, and a small meal, before falling into bed with one another, kissing desperately and lovingly. They made love looking into each other's eyes, moving as one, bringing each other to climax several times before simply lying in bed holding each other. They settled face to face, legs tangled, bodies pressed together tightly, and foreheads touching. 

“I have loved every second I have spent with you,” Yusuf said, tears in his eyes. “Through all the pain, all the hardship, I would not change a thing.” 

Nicolò kissed his tears away, ignoring his own. They had been crying for most of the day, despite knowing they had made the right decision. “I’m sure we’ve made mistakes,” he joked. “I let you get away wearing some truly awful clothes when we lived on Aura 10.” 

Yusuf chucked. “And remembered that moustache you had back when we lived on earth? Andromache and Booker hated it, but I loved it. It brought out your eyes.” 

Nicolò laughed slightly, before falling silent. “Are you scared?” 

Yusuf brought up a hand to cup Nicolò’s cheek, the other wrapped more tightly around his back so there was not an inch of space between them. “A little,” he admitted. “But I am here, with you, at the end of all things. There is nowhere else I would rather be. I promised you we would go together, in each other's arms, and I was right.” 

“Who knew Death had a heart?” Nicolò mused, laughing wetly. They kissed again, soft and slow. “I want to see our family again,” he admitted. 

Yusuf nodded, thumb moving gently to wipe away a tear that slipped into Nicolò’s hair from the corner of his eye. “We can tease them all about being babies now.” 

Nicolò snorted, though the sound quickly turned into a sob. “We are the oldest beings in the universe,” he said, awed as he always was when they truly considered their age. “Andy will have a fit.” 

Yusuf laughed loudly, joyfully. He would gladly spend another billion years with his husband, with his everything, but was likewise ready to take this final step in their life together. They had followed each other from the Siege of Jerusalem to the End of the Universe. Even dying would not keep them apart. He kissed Nicolò again, sliding his tongue into his mouth. “Should we make love one last time?” he asked. 

Nicolò thought for a moment, before shaking his head. “Let’s sleep,” he whispered, more tears falling, but his eyes were luminous with joy. “When we see each other again we’ll be in another world.” 

Yusuf chucked. “And you call me a poet,” he teased. He moved his hand from Nicolò’s cheek to wrap around his shoulders, pulling him close, breathing as one. “I love you, my Nicolò.” 

“And I love you my Yusuf.” 

With one last kiss they fell asleep, holding each other tightly, the last living beings in the universe. 

Death, when entering the ship hours later, smiled down at them, watching them sleep for a long moment. Then, with a soft touch, their breathing stopped for the last time, still tangled in each other's arms. Then Death disappeared from the universe for the last time, bringing the souls of his favoured ones to the next world. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> So... yeah. Way shorted then my normal stuff, but I think that works better for this prompt. And yes, this is actual character death I suppose, but I think it's still rather hopeful and optimistic. I mean, they got billions of years together, so there's that. I purposefully didn't describe death, but I was totally picturing the Riordanverse version of Thanatos, minus the wings. Greek God of Peaceful Death, because that's what they deserve. 
> 
> Please let me know what you thought!!! This is waaayyyy different from anything else I've ever published, so I was a little nervous about posting it.


End file.
